A Bee Gee Buys Johnny Cash’s Home

Singer-songwriter Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees has purchased Johnny and June Carter Cash’s former home in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, Tenn., a spokesman for the Cash estate confirmed Wednesday (Jan. 4).

The 13,880-square-foot home was officially purchased by Balinda LLC, a Florida company wholly owned by Gibb and his wife, Linda. The couple plans to restore the home to its original condition.

“This place will always be the spiritual home for the Cashes,” Gibb said in a written statement. “My wife, Linda, and I are determined to preserve it, to honor their memory. We fell in love with it. It’s an incredible honor for us. We plan to use the home to write songs because of the musical inspiration.”

The house on Old Hickory Lake served as the Cashes’ home for 35 years. The primary residence throughout the couple’s marriage, the house itself plays a major role in Walk the Line, the film biography starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. June Carter Cash died May 15, 2003, and Johnny Cash died Sept. 12, 2003.

The property, which includes a 4.6-acre lakefront lot, was placed on the market in June 2005 with an asking price of $2.9 million but reportedly sold for $2.3 million. The home was sold by Robert L. and Catherine C. Sullivan, the estate trustees, as part of the directives left by the Cashes.

When the property was listed, real estate agent Tommy Cash, the singer’s brother, said it would be sold “as is” and would include seven pieces of antique furniture, including the couple’s bed. Built in 1968, the house includes seven bedrooms, five full baths and an outdoor swimming pool.

The Bee Gees scored their first hit in the U.S. in 1967 with “New York Mining Disaster 1941” and followed it up with a series of pop favorites, including “To Love Somebody,” “I Started a Joke” and “Massachusetts.” The trio, which included Gibb’s younger brothers Robin and Maurice, became even more popular in the ’70s with disco-driven songs from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, including “Stayin’ Alive.”

Barry Gibb produced Kenny Rogers’ 1983 album, Eyes That See in the Dark, that contained Rogers’ duet with Dolly Parton on “Islands in the Stream,” a song written by the Gibb brothers. The Bee Gees charted one country single, “Rest Your Love on Me,” that peaked at No. 39 in 1978.